The First Time Print Died: Revisiting Composition's Multimedia Turn (1967-74)
In chapter 3, “The First Time Print Died: Revisiting Composition’s Multimedia Turn (1967-74), Palmeri maintains “contemporary compositionists have much to learn from our field’s previous electronic moment” in terms of how the revised their pedagogies to account for “‘new media’ of film, television, and Xerox machines” (88). In addition to drawing upon their practices for “inventing heuristics for rethinking” our pedagogy, we can simultaneously see how past compositionists used technology to simply reified traditional pedagogy. In track 1, “Classical Rhetoric for the Electronic Student,” Palmeri maintains Edward P.J. Corbett drew upon Marshal McLuhan’s theory of new media; however, in many ways, Corbett was ambivalent about “how shifts in communication technologies were influencing rhetorical practices” (91). Corbett nonetheless tried to make Aristotlean rhetoric appealing to 1960s youth by arguing that audience awareness cuts across print to digital media.
In track 2, “Current-Traditional Multimedia,” Palmeri argues Ester Burnett, Sandra Thomason, and Harvey Wiener have incorporated multimedia composing as a way to help students compose alphabetic texts; however, all three simply adopt innovation in very conventional ways that simply reify conservative or traditional pedagogies. Adopting a new technology alone is not enough to spur new pedagogical insight. Track 3, “Inventive Juxtapositions,” Palmeri investigates William Sparke and Clark McKowen’s Montage: Investigations in Language (1970) and argues that “juxtaposition and assemblage are powerful composing strategies” (111). Finally, in track 4, “Composition as Assemblage,” Palmeri focuses on Ray Kytle’s 1972 Comp Box (“a boxed collection of photocopied materials that students were invited to remix and extend”) (90). Unlike Sparke and McKowen’s Montage, which led students to particular assemblages, Kytel’s Comp Box was an innovative way for students to challenge the myth of the individual text and create their “own inventive juxtapositions” (105).
In track 2, “Current-Traditional Multimedia,” Palmeri argues Ester Burnett, Sandra Thomason, and Harvey Wiener have incorporated multimedia composing as a way to help students compose alphabetic texts; however, all three simply adopt innovation in very conventional ways that simply reify conservative or traditional pedagogies. Adopting a new technology alone is not enough to spur new pedagogical insight. Track 3, “Inventive Juxtapositions,” Palmeri investigates William Sparke and Clark McKowen’s Montage: Investigations in Language (1970) and argues that “juxtaposition and assemblage are powerful composing strategies” (111). Finally, in track 4, “Composition as Assemblage,” Palmeri focuses on Ray Kytle’s 1972 Comp Box (“a boxed collection of photocopied materials that students were invited to remix and extend”) (90). Unlike Sparke and McKowen’s Montage, which led students to particular assemblages, Kytel’s Comp Box was an innovative way for students to challenge the myth of the individual text and create their “own inventive juxtapositions” (105).
Zooming Out: Notes toward a History of "Cameras-and-Writing" (1971-84)
In chapter 4, “Zooming Out: Notes Toward a History of ‘Cameras-and-Writing’ (1971-84)” Palmeri points to how compositionists used technologies of their day. He discovers that many compositionists in the 1970s and 1980s drew many connections between photography, filmmaking and writing. Donald Murray and Jack Kligerman employed photography whereas others (Comprone, Costanzo, and Williamson) turned to filmmaking to highlight rhetorical elements and help students understand the composing processes of alphabetic writing. Palmeri remixed photography with Donna Haraway’s feminist perspective to give expressivism a critical edge to consider “how hierarchical social structures (sexism, racism, classism, heteronormativity, ableism) constrain which embodied knowledges are privileged and which are marginalized” (125). Moreover, Palmeri focuses on this critical thread by investigating Ira Schor’s video composing. Schor’s work suggests, “media critique and media production are symbiotic activities” (145). Students can become critical agents of social change whereby they can expose the ideological production of mass media through video composing. Palmeri concludes the chapter with ways contemporary compositionists can remix their pedagogical practices based upon past theories.
Figure 3: Multimodal Project
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